Marketing fashion products made from recycled materials

The world's oceans contain all kinds of rubbish, particularly plastic that pollutes and never decomposes--and fishing nets that have been thrown away. Now companies are turning ocean rubbish into 'green' clothing and accessories, stylish as well as a good path to sustainability. Consumers appreciate being able to make a difference through their purchases, the companies seek to accomplish societal objectives and the planet gets a little cleaner in the process.

Some brands are working with the nonprofit Parley for the Oceans to build awareness of the threats to ocean life and reuse discarded plastic in new products. Stella McCartney created a fashion collection based on recycled ocean plastics, for example, and also uses recycled nylon and polyester in fashion items. The sunglass brand Clean Waves markets products made from recycled ocean plastics, again in partnership with Parley for the Oceans.

The fast-fashion retailer H&M is buying nylon made from recycled fishing nets (from Aquafil) and turning it into stylish clothing. This partnership increases education about the challenges of ocean pollution and also showcases H&M as a firm actively working to improve sustainability.

Watch for more such partnerships as consumers increasingly seek out brands that are transparent about ethical sourcing and active in pursuing societal objectives.

Pop-up shops for holiday marketing

'Tis the season for holiday pop-up shoppes opening around the UK. More than ever, brands and businesses see pop-ups as a good way to offer a limited-time, in-person experience controlled by the brand.

This allows the companies to try new products or new displays, learn more about customers' interests and preferences, understand response to pricing and test response to communication messages featuring the pop-up. Once the pop-up closes, marketers can analyse the results and make decisions about future products, pricing, promotion and distribution possibilities--made possible by limited spending on a limited-time retail space in a targeted geographic area.

For instance:

• Seedlip, which markets non-alcoholic drinks, is opening a Mayfair pop-up focused on its beverages as well as bar products.
• Amazon, the pioneering online retailer, is opening a London fashion shop for one week to experiment with bricks-and-mortar store marketing.
• Cards for Good Causes, a nonprofit, has a holiday pop-up inside a public library, selling greeting cards to benefit numerous charities.
• One of the more unusual pop-ups is in Manchester, where Classic Football Shirts sells, well, classic football shirts like an original #7 Beckham ManU shirt, amongst others.

L'Occitane teams with TerraCycle for sustainability

Group L'Occitane markets all-natural and organic personal care products through 3,200+ retail stores in 90 nations. With headquarters in Luxembourg and Switzerland, L'Occitane's annual turnover exceeds €1,300 million.

Tech-savvy L'Occitane is leveraging the trend of consumers connecting via mobile devices to personalise offers and encourage purchasing through the firm's many e-commerce sites worldwide.

Behind the scenes, the company also works with Provence-based suppliers to source sustainably-produced ingredients for its beauty products.

It's very committed to achieving goals for recycling. As this window display shows, L'Occitane stores in Canada and the US will accept empty containers from any cosmetics brand and recycle them in partnership with Terracycle, which turns the recycled and upcycled materials into eco-friendly new products for sale.

UK consumers can participate in Terracycle recycling in various ways, including bringing recyclable items to a nearby 'brigade' for free recycling.

This post offers an additional example of societal objectives as covered in Chapter 5 of my Essential Guide to Marketing Planning.

Three visions of the future of retailing

Suning

What is the future of retailing? Different businesses have differing visions of how people will shop and buy in the future. Here are three visions among the many being planned and tested worldwide:

• Suning, a Chinese retailer, is testing unstaffed stores. (Photo above is from its news release.) The company calls this 'smart retailing' because of omnichannel choices and automation. Shoppers who have registered their Suning financial services account are identified via facial recognition and gain entry to the unstaffed stores. The idea is that some shoppers prefer to examine merchandise and buy in person, with tech assistance to speed transactions. 

  

  Start Today

• Twenty-year-old Japanese fashion e-commerce firm Start Today wants to help customers order clothing in the correct size. Shoppers dress in a Zozosuit and their measurements are captured electronically. Then shoppers can order clothing made to fit. 
• Retailers (both online and offline) are increasingly stocking a larger selection of preowned products (meaning gently-used merchandise). This is a trend in the upmarket wristwatch business, for example. It's also a trend in designer clothing and accessories. Not vintage, necessarily, but used items that originally were luxury priced.

Bargains Draw Buyers on Amazon Prime Day

Once again, Amazon Prime Day has broken all records for merchandise sales. Eager shoppers clicked or swiped to buy more merchandise on 16 July than on Black Friday or CyberMonday, two "shopping holidays" that lead into Christmas buying season. Small businesses were among the big winners, promoting discounts to their customers via the Amazon retail platform.

Although Amazon generally puts special emphasis on electronics on Prime Day, Drapers reports that the retailer sold 287k clothing items during its shopping holiday--many of these from the company's private brand collections. Amazon has been more aggressively promoting its private brands in recent years, with product launches scheduled during Prime Day in 2018.

One of the year's most popular appliances sold out--the Instant Pot. But, not surprisingly, Amazon's own Echo Dot speaker was the biggest seller of all on Prime Day, along with its own Fire Stick TV device.

Primark continues Primania

Primark, a master at marketing low-priced fast fashion, continues to engage price-conscious brand fans via its Primania page of consumer-generated fashion content. Want to see how other Primark customers accessorise a special dress or wear the company's newest tops? Browse more than 16k images uploaded by brand fans, subject to the marketer's content guidelines.

Founded in Dublin in 1969, the company now markets under a variety of private brands, including Young Dimension and Ocean Club. In addition, Primark partners with groups to market special product collections. Its recent LGBT+ Pride collection is in partnership with Stonewall, a nonprofit that promotes equality, and a portion of each purchase benefits the nonprofit.

Primark operates more than 350 stores in 12 countries. Its US stores are doing well, but the company is awaiting long-term analysis before expanding there. Unlike nearly every other retailer on the planet, Primark does not sell online, only in physical stores.

Yet its social media presence is impressive. Primark has nearly 6mm Instagram followers, 98k Pinterest followers, 225k Twitter followers.

How will Primark use marketing to celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2019?

This post updates the "Marketing at Primark" feature in Chapter 1 of Essential Guide to Marketing Planning, 4th edition.

Tesco fine-tunes retailing strategy

UK retailing giant Tesco continues to fine-tune its retailing strategy, both on the store side and online.

As shown above, it recently announced the closing of Tesco Direct, the company's profitless e-commerce initiative for non-food products. (Tesco.com is the company's grocery website.) Fulfilment is costly, maintaining an online shopping platform is costly and the company saw no way to profit from this venture. Most likely, competition was also a factor, with Amazon and others offering so many of the same brand-name products that were sold on Tesco Direct's site.

Yet Tesco continues to invest in physical stores. It opened a new supermarket in Dublin that features eco-friendly features such as energy conservation systems and recycling facilities.

The Tesco Clubcard is a major competitive strength, enabling the retailer to communicate with loyal customers and personalise offers. And Tesco will need this strength as it faces the soon-to-merge Sainsbury/Asda combination.

Mobile payment and consumer behaviour

One of the fast-growing trends in consumer behaviour is mobile payments, meaning payments completed via mobile--contactless-style.

One source says that mobile payments in the UK during 2017 exceeded £975m. Yes, that's nearly one billion pounds.

Another source shows UK mobile payments increasing by 365% during 2017. And it shows payments made via wearable devices (like smartwatches) grew by 129% in 2017.

More tests are underway as businesses and consumers grow accustomed to mobile payments. The Co-Op in Manchester, for instance, is testing a MasterCard app that allows shoppers to pay without ever queueing or stopping at the till.

Similarly, Barclay's Dine and Dash mobile app will enable UK customers to pay for restaurant meals by tapping a special point at the table. No more waiting for servers to bring the bill!

Pizza Hut in the UK is adding MasterCard's mobile payment app so customers can place orders and pay for meals without waiting for the server to bring the bill.

Have mobile payments reached a tipping point where they will now be considered mainstream? Will more payments be made via mobile than via plastic or cash? Marketers are watching consumer behaviour very closely to understand acceptance and adoption trends.

What's happening in the UK toy industry?

That's the question at the London toy fair, where hundreds of suppliers show their newest products and brand extensions to thousands of wholesale and retail buyers. And, of course, the media are invited (but no children). Above, from the Toy Fair Blog, a view of the giant show, which is taking place this week.

The Toy Character Parade is one of the special events that offer a preview of some of the branded characters consumers will see on store shelves later in 2018. In addition, electronic toys are, of course, still amongst the hottest items sought by consumers and, therefore, by retail buyers. Collectable toys are currently popular; also selling well are characters and brands already known to children and parents, such as Pokemon.

The Toy Fair also features a design seminar for students planning a career in the toy industry. Students not only hear from experts, they network with toy firms and design firms to learn more about internships and career possibilities.

As for the toy industry, UK sales of toys decreased a bit in 2017, to £3.4 billion. One reason: the rise of mobile games. Another reason: children spending more time in front of a screen (TV, phone, tablet, laptop). The decrease follows several years of sales increases. Will toy sales increase or decrease in 2018 as parents try to balance the amount of time children spend with screens/mobile games against the time spent playing with other types of toys?  

Targeting business customers like consumers

Businesses don't make buying decisions--people who work for businesses actually make those decisions. And that's why B2B marketers are targeting businesspeople using consumer-driven media, both traditional and social media, with proven B2C techniques like customizing content.

Amazon, the pioneering etailer, has a marketing initiative to sell office supplies to UK businesses. 'Whether you are a sole trader, a buyer in a mid-size company or a chief procurement officer in a large multinational organisation, Amazon Business has the products and capabilities to serve your need', says an executive.

Given that so many businesspeople have purchased from Amazon as consumers, they're already familiar with the range of merchandise and the convenience of ordering. Amazon can work with corporate buyers and procurement procedures. This creates a competitive challenge for office-supply retailers with physical locations.

Yet store-based retailers recognise that small and medium businesses, in particular, often buy in stores or online, without the elaborate purchasing processes utilised by giant corporations. In Australia, the office-products retailer Officeworks knows that it serves both consumers and business customers. Some home-based entrepreneurs might pop in for toner cartridges, or a parent might pick out school supplies for a child. Both are solid markets. When a business buyer or consumer wants to examine merchandise, select an item and take it back to home or office right away, stores are convenient.

Trend: Online businesses opening physical locations

Trendy Products, which sells furniture online, has opened a 'digital concept showroom' in Cardiff. Trendy is, in fact, on trend, as more e-businesses add physical locations to allow customers to see and experience products, chat with salespeople, access digital catalogues and then make buying decisions.


Trendy has been in business for a decade, building a strong customer base. Now it plans to open more showrooms, expanding beyond digital to reach consumers who want to experience the product and consult with designers before they buy.

One reason for this trend is the availability of good retail locations. Many years of dismal economic growth and cautious consumer spending pushed a large number of stores into administration. Competition from online businesses has also caused retailers and other businesses to shutter some branches that weren't doing well. The result: vacancies in desirable shopping areas. And thanks to good space availability, some retail businesses are actually doing better.


Amazon, the pioneering e-tailer, arranged for space in sections of existing US retail stores for the 2017 holiday season. It owns the Whole Foods Market grocery chain, where it set up displays and sold products. But it also opened some mall stores and rented space in other department stores, enabling shoppers to see and trial Kindles and other products.

Alibaba, China's online retail giant, is adding a physical presence in key cities through partnerships and through, well, giant vending machines.

Each consumer-friendly Alibaba automated location (like the concept shown here) will sell Ford automobiles, starting with a test drive offered to consumers who qualify with sufficient credit to complete the purchase.

Alibaba's 9th Annual Singles Day sets records again

Did you shop online during 11 November? In China, Alibaba Group has designated 11/11 ('Double Eleven') as Singles Day since 2009. The world's largest e-commerce company, Alibaba wanted to encourage singles to 'buy for yourself or a friend' with special discounts and star-studded promotions for the 24 hours of 11 November.

This annual promotion has paid off, making Singles Day a much, much bigger sales day than Black Friday or Amazon Prime Day. Year after year, Alibaba's Singles Day has pushed sales higher and higher. In 2017, consumers clicked on Alibaba e-commerce sites or visited in-person sites to purchase merchandise worth £19bn.

Yes, that's billion.

And Singles Day was truly a global event in 2017, with marketers from many nations participating by offering goods via Alibaba retail platforms. The company splashed out on its Global Shopping Festival Gala (above) featuring celebrities from around the world.

The result was a day of buying that broke the 2016 record by nearly 40%. In all, 812 million transactions were processed, a record-setting number -- and Alibaba says 90% of transactions were conducted on mobile devices, a key element of consumer buying behaviour these days.

Halloween haunts marketing campaigns

Halloween is an increasingly popular holiday in the UK. By one estimate, Halloween spending by consumers will reach £320 million this year.

Not surprisingly, to catch the eye of their targeted audiences and encourage viral sharing, more UK marketers are adding Halloween themes to their marketing. For example:

• Coca-Cola's Fanta soft drink invites brand fans to use its 'spooky' Snapchat lenses and filters for Halloween messages (see above). Users scan the code on a Fanta can in order to participate. The head of marketing for Coke GB says: 'Halloween is a fast-growing sector in the UK and this is largely driven by millennials--Fanta's key demographic--making it the perfect occasion to engage with our fans'.
• Top Shop is weaving Halloween themes into its in-store marketing. The retailer launched a clothing line based on Netflix's Stranger Things series, along with a limited-time pop-up shop recreating some sets from the series.
• Spooky treats are traditional this time of year, and Marks & Spencer is marketing Colin the Caterpillar cakes in Halloween colors, with a bit of red icing for ghoulish fun.
• Budweiser beer has a Halloween party pack for retail support that includes a variety of 'King of Fears' masks (given away by stores that sell the 'King of Beers'). The beer brand is also sponsoring a three-day holiday event at London's Magic Roundabout, featuring music, food and more.

Saying goodbye to the 'round pound'

From 15th October, the traditional round £1 coin has been obsolete as legal tender, replaced by a 12-sided coin introduced in March, 2017. Some parking machines have yet to be changed over to the new coin, creating confusion in the early days after the round pound became obsolete.

Banks will continue to accept the old round pound for deposit. Yet consumers also want to be able to spend what they have. That's why Aldi, Poundland, Tesco and other retailers are continuing to accept the old pound coins for days or weeks after the official deadline.

In addition, the BBC Children in Need charity fund is promoting a Round Pound Countdown, urging consumers to donate their coins via the Post Office, Boots, Greggs, Cineworld or Welcome Break locations prior to Appeal Day on 17th November.

Even trolley token key rings have been redesigned with the new pound in mind...as grocery retailers scramble to modify their equipment so trolleys will accept the 12-sided pound.

So goodbye, round pound, hello new £1 coin.

Differentiation through sustainability

In this era of intense competition and easy consumer access to detailed information about products and brands, marketers are differentiating themselves through dedication to sustainability and social responsibility.

H&M, Marks & Spencer and IKEA are only 3 of the growing number of global marketers being recognised by the Better Cotton Initiative for their use of sustainable cotton. The ranking shows which retailers and manufacturers are actively seeking out ethical sources of cotton grown in earth-friendly ways.

World Wildlife Federation, with funding from IKEA, piloted the original initiative to grow cotton sustainably. Now that effort has grown into an international movement.

Brands such as Asos, Nike and M&S recently pledged that all of their cotton goods will be made from sustainably grown cotton by 2025. As part of their pledge, these brands will annually publish their performance in progressing towards this commitment.

In addition, marketers are also looking to increase sustainability by sourcing wool and other materials in ways that protect the environment and the workers. Stella McCartney, for example, has achieved Cradle to Cradle Gold certification for the wool used in its fashion products.

More brands are choosing this method of differentiation, knowing that many consumers pay close attention to sustainability factors when making a purchase decision.

Gender neutral marketing?

John Lewis has reignited the debate over gender neutral marketing with its announcement that children's clothing will no longer be categorized as male or female. This isn't a new controversy, but a complex issue confronting retailers, manufacturers and their customers.

What about stereotyping? There is a concern that gendered toys and other products may reinforce stereotypes. Rather than have 'pink' and 'blue' aisles and products, retailers want customers to be able to browse and select products as they choose. But how does this work in everyday brick-and-mortar stores? Will it confuse or even anger some customers?

What about differences between male and female versions of products in a particular category? When customers compare the quality and marketing of boys' and girls' shoe products, for instance, some are unhappy about what they see. Pricing of products is also controversial, with complaints about different prices for men's and women's razors, for example, causing some retailers to eliminate the gender price gap.

At the same time, some marketers are recognizing distinctly different needs amongst male and female consumers, and marketing products geared to needs for each target market. Men in China, for example, are eagerly buying male beauty products like skin-care lotions. L'Oreal and ASOS are marketing makeup products for men in the UK. 

What is the future of gender neutral marketing? The controversy continues.

Poundland's multiprice strategy

Poundland has been selling some merchandise for several pounds--expanding its merchandise range and its appeal to bargain-hunting shoppers. Now the retailer, founded in 1990, has a twist on its multiprice strategy: Selling merchandise for less than one pound.

The multiprice strategy helps Poundland keep its brand promise to price-conscious customers. It also helps the retailer manage seasonal inventory. Rather than store out-of-season stock for nine months until the season rolls around again, Poundland is clearing merchandise by cutting the price, as many other stores do. The result: shelves are full of in-season, fresh merchandise at attractively low price points.

Poundland leverages social media for its price-driven promotions, with consistency in posts across platforms. More than 300,000 people have liked Poundland on Facebook, nearly 25,000 follow it on Instagram, and it has 80,000 Twitter followers (as well as a YouTube channel and a Pinterest page).

This updates the "Marketing in Practice" example in Chapter 7 of Essential Guide to Marketing Planning, 4th edn.

Vinyl record sales set records

Due to nostalgia marketing, aesthetics and technical interest, vinyl record sales are setting records. In 2016, sales of vinyl records exceeded 3 million units. As impressive as this sounds, it's actually paltry compared to overall sales of recorded music.

David Bowie topped the list of vinyl best-sellers and UK music best-selling artists. And not just Bowie's final recording, but other perennial favourites sold well in vinyl and digital formats. 

Why are vinyl sales soaring? 'It’s twofold in that older people are going back to vinyl but I also think the younger generation are discovering it in a way they weren’t before', says the CEO of Regent Street and Gold Bar Records. 

Record Store Day in April is helping introduce vinyl to new fans and give loyal customers new reasons to buy. Established performers and newcomers alike use this April 'holiday' to launch new products with heightened marketing awareness.

Now vinyl sales are strong enough that Sony has decided to get back into that business. How will the addition of this major player affect the fortunes of GZ Vinyl and the few other vinyl manufacturers competing in the industry? Will other big labels reintroduce vinyl as well?

Beauty brands seek multichannel availability

Consumer behaviour is changing, and so beauty brands are changing their distribution strategies to be where consumers want to browse and buy. As department stores consolidate and shoppers seek out specialty shops and online outlets, brands like Nyx are opening their own UK stores for direct customer contact. Nyx, for example, recently opened a flagship UK retail location with digital elements designed to appeal to Millennials.

Beauty-sample subscription businesses like Birchbox give consumers more access to more new products. This is another channel for brands to reach consumers who like variety or want to test different items before becoming a loyal buyer of a particular brand/product.

Birchbox is, in fact, considering a UK store as another channel to supplement its online-only business model. 'Physical retail enhances the relationship with the brand, but it has to be profitable in their own right, it’s not just a marketing activity for us', says cofounder Katia Beauchamp. If Birchbox opens a store, the brands it distributes gain yet another channel of access to retail customers.

Yet the Birchbox cofounder's question is very important for multichannel strategy: Will brick-and-mortar retail shops be profitable on their own? The answer depends, in part, on how consumers adapt their browsing and buying habits in a crowded multichannel marketing environment.

UK legacy grocery retailers continue to evolve

Sainsbury strapline

As in the rest of the world, UK legacy retailers are buying specialised firms and sharpening their competitive positioning. 

Why? Changing consumer behaviour and evolving industry dynamics.

Nisa logo

With fierce price wars raging amongst UK grocery chains, and online competition growing, legacy retailers are looking for new marketing roads to customer loyalty and for supply chain efficiencies to help the bottom line. For example:

• Sainsbury is expected to buy Nisa convenience shops, a 'family' of 2,900 'independent grocers' that serve local neighbourhood shoppers.
• Tesco announced the acquisition of wholesale food firm Booker, a deal that is currently being evaluated by regulatory officials and may result in industry changes.

Meanwhile, US grocery retailers are responding to the news that Amazon has acquired Whole Foods Market, giving the online giant an instant brick-and-mortar distribution channel. In fact, UK and European grocery retailers may also be affected. And European deep-discount grocer Aldi is aggressively expanding across the US, adding to the pressure on legacy supermarkets--just as Lidl opens its US stores.

So grocery retailing is increasingly global even as the industry adjusts to low-price, no-frills competition and the growing popularity of online shopping via Amazon and others.